The Connected E-Patient Kelly A. Kuhns, MSN, RN Assistant Professor Millersville University

Internet Use Statistics More than 2/3 of US adults have in home access (2003) Use continues to increase across all generations Over 80% of those with access have used it to seek health care information

Health Literacy Statistics 53% of US adults (over 16) possess a intermediate level of health literacy 12% are at a high level 36% are at or below a basic level of understanding

Finding Online Health Information Most start with a basic search engine Less than 15% consider source/credibility Less than 1% of sites provide information about date of creation and updates

Types of Users Those with chronic diseases Those interested in less traditional approaches Proxy health seekers Shifting provider/patient relationship

Chronic Disease and the Internet (PEW, March 2010) Those with chronic disease are slightly less likely to have online access Blogging and discussion forums are the most common activities

Online Health Uses Information Likely most common reason for online health related searches Basic searches (Google, Bing, etc) How to evaluate information found? How to get patients to the sites we believe to be the most beneficial? Symptom checker

Online Health Uses Support Blogs Discussion forums forums.about.com/ab-heartdisease / forums.about.com/ab-heartdisease / Chat Rooms Support Groups Illness Narratives Care Pages, Caring Bridge Connection Social Networking Facebook, MySpace town-PA/Lewistown-Hospital-Cardiac- Rehab/ ?ref=ts town-PA/Lewistown-Hospital-Cardiac- Rehab/ ?ref=ts Twitter, constant feeds ayerIndex?id=

Online Health Uses Treatment MoodGym MyTherapist.com Provider hours Electronic Health Record Federal initiative Privacy concerns Concerns of accuracy

Our Role Ask what has been found online Assisting in determining veracity and quality of online information Providing access to quality online information Explaining security of online information

Future Directions Changes to practice standards? Development of websites specific to your patient population